Supernatural Episode 4.3 Review in the Beginning

The third episode of season four of Supernatural is titled In the Beginning. The episode originally aired on the CW Network on 10/2/08. In the Beginning finds Dean sent back in time, where he meets his parents before they were married. Warning: my review contains plot spoilers.

In the Beginning is another standout episode of Supernatural. The episode focuses on Dean, with Sam only having less then a minute screen time. As Sam sneaks out to meet up with Ruby, Dean is transported back in time to 1973 by Castiel. Dean doesn't realize what has happened at first so this gives the cast an opportunity to say some pretty funny lines. My personal favorite is when Dean asks the young John Winchester, played by Matt Cohen, where he can get some service for his cell phone, John responds "The Enterprise." I laughed. Anyway, Dean runs into Castiel again and Castiel just gives him the cryptic message of stopping something from happening.

Dean is unsure what he is suppose to stop so he follows John around and talks him into buying the '67 Chevy (which Dean drives in present day) when he was originally going to buy a van. Hmmm...first clue that Dean being in the past was meant to be. Dean then follows John as he picks up Mary Campbell for a date. Dean is very happy to see his mother once he gets over the initial ick factor that he thinks his mom is a babe. Dean obviously doesn't know much about his mother because she knows Dean is following them and beats the crap out of him behind a diner. He realizes she is a hunter and tries to explain that he is a hunter too.

Dean follows Mary home and is introduced to her parents, Deanna and Samuel Campbell. Samuel is played by Mitch Pileggi. Deanna and Samuel...now we know who Sam and Dean were named after. Turns out the Campbell's are hard core hunters but not very trusting hunters because apparently all hunters work alone. Dean quizzes Samuel on any weird happenings in town and after consulting future John's diary, Dean determines something is going to happen at a nearby farm, Whitshire farm. Dan wants Samuels help but Samuel says no. Samuel is suspicious of Dean.

Samuel and Mary head to the Whitshire farm to do some research. Samuel is a posing as a priest. In a very funny scene, Dean answers the door posing as a priest. Dean has beaten them to the punch. Turns out the father Whitshire was killed in a farming accident. Apparently the father was a wife beater and the son made a deal with the yellow eyed demon to make his father stop. In return, the demon will return in 10 years and ask for a favor.

Dean thinks he has figured out why he was sent back in time. The yellow eyed demon kills him mom in the future, in ten years to be exact so he thinks he is here to kill the demon and save his mom. Hmmm...Dean still doesn't know why the demon killed his mom but it is pretty easy to figure out that she will make a deal with the demon and will return in tens years. Dean again tries to enlist Samuels help but Samuel says no. Dean tracks down the colt, the only weapon that can kill the demon.

Meanwhile, Mary has found out that the demon is going after her friend Lydia, so Mary and Samuel head off to her place. Mary and Samuel just make a mess of the situation and the demon escapes. Neither Mary nor Samuel realizes it is possible to kill a demon but they have no problem killing his host body. I was a little confused by that issue. I would have thought they would have done their best to save the host.

Mary is upset by the whole situation. She is tired of being a hunter and just wants to live a normal life. Hmmm...that is a pretty good reason to make a deal with a demon. Anyway, she runs to John for comfort and they drive off to a parking area to talk. He plans on proposing to her.

Dean goes to Samuel and confuses who he is and why he is there. Samuel takes it all in stride because he is possessed by the yellow eyed demon. I fight ensues with Dean being pinned and the demon revealing parts of his master plan. The demon is searching out certain couples who will have strong children. The demon will then come back in ten years and feed the couples' infant babies demon blood which will make them psychic and have other special powers. The demon wants to create an army for some unknown reason. The demon sniffs Dean and knows Dean is not one of his psychic children (Sam is). The demon kills Deanna brutally by snapping her neck and also stabs Samuel in the stomach, knowing Samuel will die when the demon exits the body. He then leaves to find Mary.

Mary and John are attacked by the demon possessed Samuel. Samuel brutally snaps John's neck, killing him. A distraught Mary agrees to the demon's deal in return for bringing John back to life. She also wants her parent's back but the demon informs her that isn't part of the deal. Dean shows up too late and knows Mary has made the deal. The demon informs Mary that he will return in ten years to do something and she just needs to not interrupt him. Ahhh, now we know how Mary died. She does try to stop the yellow eyed demon in the future and so he kills her. Apparently he did accomplish his task of feeding demon blood to Sam because we all know he has special powers.

Dean is upset that he couldn't save his mom. Castiel informs him that he couldn't have changed the past; it is all set in stone. He really was just sent back so he could see the truth and hopefully find out what the yellow eyed demon was up to. They now know how he altered the kids but they still don't know why. He also informs Dean that Sam is going down a dangerous path and the angels will stop him if necessary.

In the Beginning is another excellent episode of Supernatural. I was particularly happy that the episode focused on Dean because he is my favorite character. He has the funniest one liners. I think Sam is a little whiney sometimes. Anyway, the episode does a great job of filling in details so we can start to see the master plan. I am sure the yellow eyed demon's idea of a human/demon army has something to do with the Apocalypse. Mitch Pileggi did a great job as Samuel. I give the episode 5 out of 5 stars.